Electric conductor



Oct. 8, 1940. Hl HlLL E T AL ELEQTRIG CONDUCTOR Filed June 27, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1. B

6 WMA/70,95

HARRY HILL auf 771ml 'vkronl Rost Oct. 8, 1940. H, H|| L Er AL 2,217,275

ELECTR IC CONDUCTOR Filed June 27, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATER/VWS K 25 Figure 1 is a cross-section of a single core caclosing die which compresses and compacts the g5 atenta oa. 8,- 1940 y d 2,217,276

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELEomc CONDUCTOR Harry Hill and Thomas Burton Rose, Belvedere, Kent, England, assignors to Callenders Cable and Construction Company Limited, London, England, a British company Application June 27, 1938, Serial No. 215,956 1n Great Britain July 8, 1937 1 claim. (cifra-T129) This invention is concerned with electric conligure the component conductors B and D are ductors having Aa longitudinal duct. The producof elongated flattened shape with a curved outer tion of a conductor of circular cross-section and surface-and three more or less straight inner surhaving a longitudinal duct may be readily carried` iaces. The two vother component conductors A 5 out by employing a hollow core member of cirand C also form foursided figures with curved 5 cular cross-section and applying wires helically outer surfaces vand more Or less straight inner to the core. On the other hand it is diilicult to surfaces but they are not so attened or elongatbuild upa conductor satisfactorily by stranding ed asthe other component conductors and apon to a hollow core member of non-circular crossproach more nearly to the circular form. When section. By the present invention we dispense the component conductors are assembled they 10 .with the necessity of employing a hollow core iit into each other and form the elliptical conmember to form a longitudinal duct in the conductor l and enclose the duct 5. ductor.v According to the present invention, a Each component conductor is made by strandconductor of non-circular cross-section havinga ing together an appropriate number Of Wires longitudinal duct is built up of compoon'ent conwhich will generally be of circular cross-section. 1B ductors each consisting of wires stranded togeth- To obtain an approximation to the iinal shape in er and having a shape incross-section appropricross-section of the component conductors, the ate for the non-circular cross-section of the comwires chosen for the component conductors may pleted conductor. In the built up conductor thus be of different diameters.` In the figure, the comformed the cross-sections of the component conponent conductors B and D are shown composed n ductors are such as to provide alongitudinal duct of wires of the same diameter, whereas in the between them. l component conductors A and C the Wires are The invention will be further described with shown of different diameters. When the Wires the aid of the accompanying drawingsI wherein: are stranded together they are passed through a ble, drawn to an enlarged scale, component conductors and causes each Wire to Figure 2, a perspective view of a component tlt closely into the spaces between adjacent wires,

conductor, also drawn to an enlarged scale and, thelatter in this process being deformed some- Figure 3, a cross-section of a multicore cable, what from their original circular cross-sectional also drawn to an enlarged scale. shape. The gure indicates approximately the Referring to Figure l, the cable comprises a distortion of the wires and the manner in which conductor indicated generally by the numeral i, they fit into each other. This compacting of the a layer 2 of wires immediately surrounding the wires may be effected by the roller die apparatus conductor i, a dielectric 3 applied over the layer described in the specication of U. S. Patent No. 5 2, and an enclosing lead sheath 4. As will be 2,128,777. A

seen from the figure, the conductor l, layer 2 After assembling the component conductors and the dielectric 3 are each of elliptical crossthey are held together by the layer 2. This laysection, while the lead sheath 4 is of circular er consists of wires of circular cross-section apcross-section. These parts, however, need not l plied helically 'over theassembly. Other mem- 40 necessarily have the shapes shown but may be bers, however, may be employed to hold the comvaried. The dielectric 3 may be, for example, imponent conductors in position. o pregnated paper. The component conductors may lie parallel with The conductor l has a central duct 5 which the axis of the conductor I or they may be l extends longitudinally thereof. This duct is prostranded together and they may be prespiralled duced in the following manner. The conductor before being stranded together with a lay equal a is built up from a number of component conto the stranding lay. By prespiralling we mean ductors of which the figure shows four, indicated giving to the conductor its required non-circular respectively'by the letters A, B, C and D. These shape in cross-section in such a manner that component conductors are sou shaped that when the non-circular conguration rotates about the they are assembled together they provide an outer axis of the conductor along its length. This surface having a substantially elliptical contour rotation` of the` non-circular conguration is inwhen viewed in a direction axially of the condicated in Figure 2 which shows a component ductor. A The component conductors are also of .I conductor corresponding to that shown at A or such a shape that upon assembly they enclose C in Figure 1 or 3, which has been prespiralled. theduct indicated by the numeral 5. In the In the construction shown in Figure 3, the u cable comprises three cores. Each core comprises a conductor l, a layer 2 of wires, dielectric 3 and an enclosing lead sheath 4. The conductors, layers and dielectric are of elliptical cross-section as in Figure l and each conductor is built up of four component conductors A, B, C and D as in that figure. These component conductors enclose ducts 5 which extend longitudinally of the component conductors. The spaces between the three cores and between the cores and the sheath 4 are lled up with llers 6 which may be of paper or other material.

In Figure 3, the three cores are laid up together and the component conductors A, B, C and D may be prespiralled with a lay` equal to that of the cabling 1ay,'that is to say, equal to the lay with which the three cores are laid up. This will avoid twisting of the insulated built up conductors I while they are being laid up together to form the three core cable. It will only be necessary to bend them slightly. It will be understood that the component conductor shown in Figure 2 represents its prespiralled form as manufactured and before it is embodied in the cable shown in Figure 3.

What we claim as our invention is:

For an electric cable, a conductor of substantially elliptical cross-section comprising four component conductors fitting together within the periphery of the conductor'and thereby forming a self-supporting structure capable of resisting external pressure without collapsing and enclosing a longitudinally extending duct, each of said component conductors being formed of members stranded together, two of the said component conductors being of elongated shape in cross-section and the other two approaching more clearly to the circular form in cross-section, the four component conductors being disposed alternately according to shape.

HARRY HILL. THOMASBURTON ROSE. 

